When did it become necessary for us to abbreviate everything in our lives? I’ve been pondering the situation and the earliest abbreviations that come to mind are FBI and OSS. More recently, Good Morning, America has become GMA.
Then, Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC, and just recently Dunkin’ Donuts has chosen to change all their signage to DD. Jennifer Lopez became JLo, and her main squeeze was ARod. I’m sure there are dozens of other examples. I just don’t know why.
Are we supposed to be saving seconds of our valuable time by just voicing the letters? I assume that they feel they are so familiar that they don’t need to have the words said to be identifiable. Will all newcomers to the United States be left to wonder what the letters stand for, or will they catch on by watching TV ads and trailers?
I’ll admit that I am old-fashioned. I don’t care for change. I’d be happy to say the words. Most days I have the time.
I find it annoying too. I’ve taken to feigning ignorance when someone speaks in abbreviations of acronyms; and frequently utter, “And that means?”
I don’t think it’s about disliking change, I think it’s about not making life out to be some secret society that you can only understand if you know the ‘in’ codes. I’ve never been one of the in-crowd and don’t intend to start now!
Incidentally, do you remember, some years back, maybe around 2007 or 2008, you wrote a blog with some wonderful quilting hints? I was just getting into quilting myself then, and printed it off. I rediscovered it, with pleasure, the other day, while sorting books to move north. Thank you for all your past posts on quilting, they really inspired me in my early days. I’d love to see some photos of what you have made more recently.
How lovely that you quilt! I don’t recall what tips I shared, but I’m glad to know that you saved them. For the past ten years I have been making what we call “charity” quilts. We have so many people who are in need that it seems a worthy way to use my ability to quilt. The challenge is that we work with donated fabrics and it can be very difficult to put something together that is visually acceptable. I’ve spent so much time on this project that I haven’t done a lot of quilts of my own. I keep thinking that I will get back to the ideas that are sitting on the back burner.
Just this month I finished four Memory quilts. My oldest nephew passed away three years ago. His daughter saved six or eight of his shirts, all in shades of blue or blue plaid, and asked if I would make a small memory quilt for his mother, and perhaps something small for her. I totally deconstructed those shirts and used every possible inch of them and came up with enough to make four quilts. I used a simple four-patch surrounded by white sashing, a white border, and a dark blue border. The first three quilts are almost identical; the fourth quilt used up all the remaining squares plus four pockets that were appliquéd to white background. I still need to take the scraps to make a pillow. Ultimately, I want to give something to five of his relatives. I’m working on the labels now. The quilts will be back from the long-arm quilter in two weeks. I have the binding ready to go, so these projects will be finished during April and I will get back to sewing charity quilts. If I can figure out how to post a picture again, I’ll try to share one of them on the blog.
“…while sorting books to move north.” You’ve moved?? I loved hearing about about all the building and painting and gardens at Chez BW. I hope that you are continuing in a new spot, and that all is well.
Oh, I’d love to see those quilts. Memory quilts are so special. I can feel some more quilts coming on, now that I am happier in the north where it is so much less develoepd and over-populated.